NATCHEZ &045; An Easter without the cross in prominent view was unthinkable to the Rev. Dr. Brock Watson, who in 1991 was senior chaplain to troops in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.

Now pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Natchez, Watson remembers that Easter as a special time and a challenge.

A village built in Riyadh by the Saudi government for the Bedouins &045; but not occupied by them &045; had become a major headquarters for U.S. troops and command. It was in the village that the Easter drama played out. &uot;This situation was very different from Vietnam,&uot; said Watson, who joined the U.S. Army as a chaplain in 1967 and was pastor to the 101st Airborne Infantry in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, spending most of his time in helicopters or in the boondocks with soldiers.

After Vietnam, he left the military to resume civilian ministry but soon after joined the National Guard and in a short time became state chaplain for the Missouri National Guard. In 1990, he joined other reservists to serve in the Gulf War, where he was senior chaplain. After the Gulf War, with the rank of brigadier general, he became chief of chaplains, traveling from his base in Washington, D.C., throughout the United States.

With Saudi Arabia as the bedrock of the Muslim faith and the sensitivity among the people to the history of the Crusades, chaplains could not wear crosses and couldn’t call places of worship chapels during the Gulf War. &uot;We couldn’t fly the chaplain flags with crosses. There even was a conflict over whether we could have chaplains at all, especially Jewish chaplains,&uot; Watson said. &uot;But there were services, held in various worship centers and in homes.&uot;

Watson, as senior chaplain, insisted there would be an Easter service in the village. &uot;It made some of us furious that we were put in that position,&uot; he said. &uot;We couldn’t even put out the word over our own Armed Forces network.&uot;

By word of mouth, information flowed throughout the community that a sunrise service would be held in the park in the center of the village. &uot;We had a phenomenal response, a huge crowd,&uot; he said. &uot;We bootlegged a cross that now is in the chaplains museum. I was determined we were going to have the service and the cross. We also provided a Jewish service with a Torah, completely illegal and really, really tricky.&uot;

Watson delivered the service, focusing on the kingdom and taking a cue from the welcome all Americans had received upon arriving in Saudi Arabia, &uot;Welcome to the kingdom.&uot;

&uot;I talked about another kingdom, the kingdom won for us by the resurrection of Christ.&uot;

In another small service conducted on that Easter Day, a soldier came to him to ask how he could profess his faith in the Lord. &uot;I told him he could do that now and he asked what to do next,&uot; Watson said. &uot;I told him to go home, join a church, take instruction and be baptized.&uot;

Around Easter time in 2004, the Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida contacted Watson and asked him to come for a special service at which the story of that soldier’s conversion would be taped to send to troops in Iraq. &uot;He had told that story, and the Coral Ridge Ministries had heard about it,&uot; Watson said. &uot;He still had the little New Testament I’d given him.&uot;